Mike Fine: Celtics have become a must-see team

The pre-game video presentations that the Celtics once showed seemed to ring awfully hollow considering the status of the team.

Mike Fine

The pre-game video presentations that the Celtics once showed seemed to ring awfully hollow considering the status of the team.

Yeah, OK, so the organization has a responsibility to present its team in the best light, but Wally Szczerbiak canning a jumper? Delonte West making a dunk? C'mon. This team won 24 games last season.

What fans are presented with at the Garden this year is a video montage worthy of a champion, starting with pictures of players working out and practicing, followed by game highlights, topped off by a primal scream from Kevin Garnett-and it's not even loud enough. Nowadays, that presentation really means something because the Celtics mean something.

Needless to say, everyone's noticed, which is why Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Mike Fratello were representing TNT at courtside for the Thursday night meeting with the New York Knicks, why the Celtics have played before 12 sellouts crowds, why they're now getting the best refs, why they've become a must-see, must-read destination for any basketball fan.

"The last time we were on TNT in a regular-season game, Danny Ainge was (broadcasting) the game," said Celts coach Doc Rivers. The last time the Celts hosted a national broadcast: April 10, 2003, when they were a marginal playoff team. "It's nice to be wanted again. It's not like we've been on a whole bunch lately."

It's more like wanted, dead or alive, but with their incredible 104-59 demolition of the Knicks, the Celtics have improved to 12-2, 8-0 at home, just a tick behind the league-leading San Antonio Spurs, who are 9-0 in their home, the SBC Center.

Not even the Spurs have done this season what the Celtics did to the Knicks. It was so crushing that Celts coach Doc Rivers only needed Kevin Garnett for 21 minutes. He left with eight points, ending an NBA-best double-figure scoring string of 411 straight games, the seventh-most ever. And he didn't even care.

The Celtics outscored the Knicks, 55-25, over the middle two periods. They started the game on a 14-3 run and started the second, third and fourth quarters with runs of 13-2, 15-2 and 11-2. They limited the Knicks to 30 percent shooting.

During a timeout in the fourth quarter, when crowd favorite Gino was dancing on the scoreboard, Paul Pierce and Garnett were doing likewise at the bench. It was entirely reminiscent of some of the routs of the 80's, complete with a "Let's Go Celtics" chant. At one point in the fourth quarter, a New York fan took off his Knicks and tossed it on the court.

It was probably too good of a performance for that national TV audience, which undoubtedly was peeling away to watch the Packers and the Cowboys. But it was just what the Celtics needed.

"It's very important," Pierce said of the home-court advantage. "It's something we talked about--trying to establish something at home because of this atmosphere we've been getting every night. We were probably the worst home team in the NBA last year (far and away, with only 12 wins), but this crowd's been great, getting us going. We want teams to start thinking like they did back in the day coming into the Garden that this is a tough place to play.

"You don't even know how you feel when you're got 16, 17,000 people out there cheering for you. It's like an extra person on the court. It gives you a boost of energy. A team can go on a run, but you have these people still behind you. It's not like being on the road when you get behind, you have to get that boost of energy from the guys on the bench, whereas at home it's a little easier to get up when you're down or at the beginning of games.

"I mean, we had a lot of sellouts last year but the way the building has been, it's a different feeling in that building. It seems like people came to the games last year because it was something to do. This year they're coming because they've got something to cheer about."

And they're watching Charles Barkley and Stephen A. Smith and all the other onetime critics say nice things about them, too.

"The only thing I've been frustrated with TNT is...we haven't had any TNT games for the past couple of years," said Pierce, "but I looked up last year and there were a couple of teams that probably weren't as good as us and I was kind of jealous about that. It is good to be back on, the nation can have a chance to watch us and see what we're all about."

Being a national phenomena can be fraught with pitfalls, though. They had to beat the Knicks after starting at 8 p.m., half an hour later than usual, and something they did on opening night with Washington. Worse, they've got an 8 p.m. start Friday night at Miami, followed by a 12:30 p.m. start against Cleveland back at the Garden. The last time the Celtics were a featured 12:30 Sunday team, they were regularly competing for championships. It's a time slot reserved for the elite.

"That's the difficult part, just the scheduling of it, but that's what the NBA is," Pierce said. "They're gonna test you physically, but it's only going to make us better."

Rivers looks at the national exposure like NFL fans look at Monday Night Football, despite the hassles. "I'd rather have it," he said, "because that means you're in the fray and that's part of it, so give it to me. That's what we want."

Nevertheless, the Celtics remains grounded. Ray Allen reminds that this team hasn't done anything yet. Pierce says they're taking it, yes, one game at a time. They do know, however, that life has changed. That's especially true of Pierce, who watched those video displays last season with little enthusiasm.

"We're on the other side of the fence now," he said. "We've got a target on our backs. You can see it the way teams come out the first quarter and there's a little bit more chitter chatter than there has been in the past. Teams are motivated. We've been winning games early, having a lot of early success, and that's how it is when you're one of the better teams in the league."